TWO DEAD-ALPENA

Alpena-area men go to prison while 2 deaths are investigated

ALPENA, Mich. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to two years in prison while authorities continue to investigate the deaths of two women. Joshua Wirgau was sentenced last week in a separate case involving a gun crime. Another man, Brad Srebnik, received the same term. Both will get credit for more than six months in jail. Brynn Bills disappeared last August shortly before she would have turned 18. Her body was found in September in Wirgau’s yard in Alpena Township. The body of Abby Hill was found in October in a wooded area in the township. She and Bills were friends on Facebook. The prosecutor says the investigation is ongoing.

MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS-CONVENTION

Michigan GOP picks candidates with Trump clout on the line

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Two candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump have won Michigan Republicans’ backing for attorney general and secretary of state at a convention, clearing their path to face Democratic incumbents in the fall. Saturday’s meeting of thousands of party delegates was a test of Trump’s clout in the party. His allies — attorney general candidate Matthew DePerno, a lawyer, and secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo, a community college instructor — emerged victorious from three-person fields at the “endorsement” event in downtown Grand Rapids. The political newcomers support Trump’s false claims about his 2020 loss in the swing state.

WRONGFUL CONVICTION

Judge delays long-imprisoned Detroit man’s exoneration

DETROIT (AP) — A judge has put on hold the exoneration of a Detroit man who has been in prison for 15 years for kidnapping and sexual assault crimes that prosecutors now say he didn’t commit. A Wayne County judge told prosecutors and defense lawyers for Terance Calhoun on Friday that a Detroit police officer came to her office earlier in the day with material claiming Calhoun had confessed to attacking the two teen girls in 2006. Judge Kelly Ramsey said she did not look at the material but rescheduled Friday’s hearing until Wednesday. The Detroit Police Department said the officer didn’t follow proper procedures and that it was “working to rectify the situation.”

THREE DEAD-VERDICTS

Man guilty in Detroit-area slayings of child, 2 adults

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Ajury convicted a Detroit-area man of all 15 criminal counts against him for the slayings of three Warren residents, including a 6-year-old boy. The Macomb County deliberated about three hours before convicting 39-year-old Nicholas Bahri of Bloomfield Hills on three counts each of first-degree premeditated and first-degree felony murder, seven gun charges, arson and mutilation of a body. He was charged in the 2000 shooting deaths of 32-year-old Tukoyo Moore, 32, his 6-year-old son Tai’Raz, and his fiancee, 28-year-old Isis Rimson. The Macomb Daily reports Bahri will be ordered June 15 to serve life in prison without parole. The verdicts were delivered following a six-day trial.

FISHERMAN’S REMAINS IDENTIFIED

Bone found on Michigan beach IDed with genetic genealogy

GANGES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan fisherman who went missing in 2000 has been identified through DNA testing on a jaw bone that washed up on a beach 14 years later. The DNA Doe Project, working with the Michigan State Police, determined the jaw bone belonged to Ronald Wayne Jager of Fruitland Township. The DNA Doe Project is an all-volunteer California-based group. Jager was reported missing the day after he launched his boat in August 2000 in Whitehall. State police said Friday that the boat washed ashore in Wisconsin. Coast Guard searches found no trace of Jager.